French (le franais [l? f??~s?] ( listen) or la langue franaise [la l?~g f??~s?

z])
is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar
Latin of the Roman Empire, as did languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
, Romanian, Catalan and others. French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoke
n Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives a
re the other langues d'ol languages historically spoken in northern France and in s
outhern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also
influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgic
a and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. T
oday, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based
creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nati
on may be referred to as "Francophone" in both English and French.
French is an official language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la
francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is spoken as a firs
t language (in descending order of the highest number) in France, the Canadian p
rovince of Quebec, western Switzerland, the region of Wallonia in Belgium, Monac
o, certain parts of Canada and the United States, and by various communities els
ewhere. As of 2015, 40% of the francophone population (including L2 and partial
speakers) is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the M
iddle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania.[1]
French is the fourth most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union.[3]
1/5 of non-Francophone Europeans speak French.[4] As a result of French and Belg
ian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to
new territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Most second-language speakers
reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal a
nd Ivory Coast.[5] In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million nativ
e speakers,[1][6] and 190 million secondary speakers.[7] Approximately 270 milli
on people are able to speak the language.[8] According to a demographic projecti
on led by the Universit Laval and the Rseau Dmographie de l'Agence universitaire de
la francophonie, total French speakers will number approximately 500 million pe
ople in 2025 and 650 million people by 2050.[9] The Organisation internationale
de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa.
[1]
French has a long history as an international language of commerce, diplomacy, l
iterature, and scientific standards and is an official language of many internat
ional organisations including the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the
WTO, the International Olympic Committee, and the ICRC. In 2011, Bloomberg Busin
essweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English
and Standard Mandarin Chinese.[10]